The one of the main issues confronting women and girls today is gender disparity. Gender disparity has come a long way and of course so much has been achieved in the recent years in reducing the gender gaps. Since it is ingrained in our culture and living with it for generations, it is difficult to change all at once. However, it is not something that cannot be changed and that is why great many initiatives are in place to remove the hurdles on the road to gender equality. The gender disparities in Bhutan are very much attributed to lack of gender knowledge and deep-rooted cultural practices.
Of course, with the establishment of National Commission for Women and Children and other NGOS and CSOs, Bhutan has been continuously supporting the women and girls to create a gender equality society.
The very first thing is the individual mindset. The societal mindset or the perceptions that men are better than women and women are weaker is one of main deterring factors suppressing women. As a result of this, even if the women come forward themselves, they lack societal support. In this way, many women who are competent and interested to rise up had to stay back home and run the family. Therefore, they become economically dependent on their husbands.
The other thing is lack of knowledge on gender equality amongst general public. This has led to general acceptability of gender biases including by women themselves especially in some remote communities. In some cases, women tend to be inferior in the family due to fear of broken marriages or families, fear of left out alone with nothing since she is dependent on her husband and fear of social stigma. This situation exacerbates the superior nature of husbands and become more dominant and sometimes inflicts violence. These women then become victims of all sorts of violence at home.
Inadequacy of gender friendly infrastructures is another issue. All public places, public infrastructures and transport system must have adequate gender friendly infrastructures. Each and every workplace must have a system in place to prevent all sorts of violence against women and girls, especially the sexual harassment. There is a need to educate especially women and girls on all forms of violence especially on the violence associated with both physical and online dating relationships.
Although there are many platforms for women to showcase their talents, it is not easily accessible to many. There has to be many women and girls dedicated platforms, accessible to all like Miss Bhutan pageant, body building, modeling and many more. These platforms not only help them build confidence and competencies, but they also inspire and help other women and girls in overcoming all issues highlighted above. Through such platforms, our women and girls will have the opportunities to participate even at the international level.
A journey to gender equality society has begun and many of our women and girls have come forward and even proved that nothing is impossible. Although less in numbers, the women and girls have really shown their will and talents. And there shall be no turning back now until the road to gender equality society is paved well for all.
